UBC anthropology professor Bruce Miller was expected to testify at public hearings that began last fall. He says he submitted a report in advance but by September had informed the commission that he no longer wished to participate

VANCOUVER — An expert in systemic racism and aboriginal stereotypes withdrew from the troubled Missing Women Commission of Inquiry after deciding the commission “would not fulfill its mandate,” the National Post has learned.

UBC anthropology professor Bruce Miller was contracted by the commission as an expert witness and was expected to testify at public hearings that began last fall. He says he submitted a report in advance of his testimony, but by September had informed the commission that he no longer wished to participate in the process.

Growing numbers of individuals and groups have criticized the inquiry for paying little attention to the roles that negative stereotyping and racism played in police failures to investigate Vancouver’s missing and murdered women, many of whom were aboriginal.

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Mr. Miller remains bound by his confidentiality agreement with the commission and cannot describe the contents of his report, or even say why he was asked to write one. He notes he has previous experience as an expert witness in discrimination cases, and court records show he has given testimony about “prejudicial attitudes and stereotypes held about aboriginal people.”

A lawyer who represented aboriginal interests for the inquiry cited Mr. Miller’s withdrawal as a reason for her own resignation last month. Mr. Miller wrote a report “that addressed the issue of systemic bias within the missing women investigation,” Robyn Gervais said during her resignation speech to commissioner Wally Oppal. “Soon after my appointment, I learned that his report would not be put into evidence and he would not be called as a witness.”

Formed by the B.C. government two years ago, the commission of inquiry is supposed to examine how police conducted investigations into missing women and Robert Pickton, a Port Coquitlam pig farmer accused of killing 26 Vancouver sex trade workers. Pickton was convicted on six counts of second degree murder in 2007.

The inquiry is also to examine why B.C.’s criminal justice branch stayed a charge of attempted murder, laid against Pickton after he stabbed a prostitute on his farm in 1997, early in his killing spree. The woman barely survived. She was scheduled to testify before the inquiry on Tuesday, but had a sudden change of heart, explained senior commission counsel Art Vertlieb. “We do not need to hear from [her] to do the job,” he added. The inquiry heard from a former Crown prosecutor on Tuesday, instead.

Mr. Vertlieb has refused to discuss the Bruce Miller matter. “I’m not going to discuss Dr. Miller,” he told the National Post. “We weren’t able to get him to complete his assignment, and I’m just going to leave it at that.”

The inquiry ‘has served to repeat the same discrimination and exclusion that we had hoped it was going to uncover’

But Mr. Miller insists he “submitted a completed report” to the commission. At some point, something made him re-evaluate the commission and his role. “I didn’t believe the [missing women] commission would fulfill its mandate,” Mr. Miller said in an interview. “I’m sorry, but I can’t say more than that.”

Over a dozen aboriginal and women’s groups have accused the commission of “failing to address” issues such as systemic racism, sexism and discrimination. They raised their concerns again Tuesday morning, at a press conference a few blocks from the inquiry hearing room. Fifteen organizations issued an open letter to Mr. Oppal, explaining their decisions to “boycott” evidentiary hearings — which are to conclude later this month — and public policy forums.

“The Commission has lost all credibility among Aboriginal, sex work, human rights and women’s organizations that work with and are comprised of the very women most affected by the issues this Inquiry is charged with investigating,” the letter reads. The inquiry “has served to repeat the same discrimination and exclusion that we had hoped it was going to uncover.”

The letter referred to other problems to have beset the inquiry, including allegations made by former commission staff members about “sexist conduct” in the workplace, and the fact that the commission’s executive director is a former Vancouver Police Department officer who conducted witness interviews and assisted an expert witness to complete an “independent” report looking at the VPD’s role in the missing women and Pickton investigations. Details were raised last week in the National Post. The executive director has been placed on paid leave and an internal investigation into the alleged sexist conduct has been launched.

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